1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network connectors and more particularly, to a keystone jack, which allows selective connection arrangement between the wire-bonding block panel of the IDC housing and the core wires of the network cable by a punch down technique or a tool free technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
A network cable is an 8-core cable for signal transmission. A keystone jack is for connection between the system end and the network cable for signal transmission. A regular keystone jack generally includes a jack body disposed at the front side and an IDC (insulation displacement contact) housing disposed at the rear side. The jack body has a forwardly extending jack hole defined therein for receiving a keystone plug of a network cable, and 8 gold-plated pins arranged in the jack hole for the contact of the matching conducting pins of the inserted keystone plug. The IDC housing is adapted for receiving a network cable from the system end.
The connection arrangement between the wire-bonding block panel of the IDC housing and the core wires of the network cable can be done in either of the following two ways:
1. The punch down type to punch down the core wires into the wire-bonding block panel with a tool.
2. The tool free type to hold down the core wires in the wire-bonding block panel with a cover plate.
Similar techniques can see the related descriptions of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,957,720; 5,947,761; 5,358,430.
Commercial keystone jacks use one of the aforesaid two methods to achieve connection between the wire-bonding block panel of the IDC housing and the core wires of the network cable. Thus, the installation of a punch down type keystone jack must use a tool to punch down the core wires into the wire-bonding block panel. When a tool free type keystone jack is used, it has a holding down mechanism for holding down the core wires of the network cable in the wire-bonding block panel. No any commercial keystone jack allows selective connection arrangement between the wire-bonding block panel of the IDC housing and the core wires of the network cable by a punch down technique or a tool free technique.